An Indian Air Force Mig-21 jet, on a routine flight, crashed into an office building in Jalandhar in north India's Punjab state, killing seven people on the ground and injuring 17 others.

The pilot and the co-pilot bailed out to safety. They have been admitted to hospital and their injuries, if any, are not known.

Police said that seven bodies had been recovered from the site of the crash.

The jet took off at 9.37 am from Adampur and crashed at 10.10 am.

Eyewitnesses said that the rear of the plane caught fire during the flight and came crashing into the Bank of Rajasthan building after a blast.

Adjacent buildings of the Basti Adda caught fire in the blaze and fire-fighters were still engaged in dousing the flames, according to the Press Trust of India.

The services of the Army have been requisitioned to assist the civil administration, Deputy Commissioner K Shiva Prasad said.

The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained.

Meanwhile, the IAF Friday suspended flight training on the particular batch of MIG-21 variant in the wake of the crash of Mig-21 near Jalandhar.

A court of inquiry has been ordered into the cause of the crash, an IAF spokesman said here.

He said that the suspension of the flight training on the Mig-21 75 variant would remain in force till the court of inquiry submits its report.

However, the spokesman said that operational flying on the variant would continue. According to official figures made available to Parliament, 84 jets in the Mig series have crashed in the past five years.

This has prompted two key Parliamentary Committees-- Public Accounts Committee and the Standing Committee--- to demand phasing out of the aircraft.

However, Chief of Air staff Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy said that Mig-21s were still the mainstay of the IAF and could be in service for some more years to come.

A total of 25 Mig-21 Bis aircraft have been planned to be upgraded, with the first batch of these aircraft joining Squadron service later this month.

Defense Ministry officials said that the entire 125 fighters would be upgraded by the Year 2004-2005.

According to official figures, 10 Mig-21s aircraft crashed in 1998-99, 13 in 1999-2000, 12 in 2000-2001 and three in the last two months causing a financial loss of 6.77 billion rupees (140 million U.S. dollars).

Human error, bird hit and technical faults have been identified as the main cause of these accidents by various courts of inquiry.